OMB details sequester cuts in report to Congress

What: The Office of Management and Budget's March 1 breakdown of sequestration cuts that must now be implemented.

Why: OMB is required by law to report to Congress the specific percentages and dollar amounts that the sequester will trim from various agencies and programs. This report, issued once sequestration was officially triggered March 1, shows that discretionary defense spending must be cut by 7.8 percent in fiscal 2013, while discretionary non-defense spending faces 5 percent cuts across the board.

Those percentages are lower than OMB had projected in late 2012, due to "buy-down" cuts that were implemented in the Jan. 1 legislation that delayed the sequester until March 1. However, fiscal 2013 is already five months old, so budget cuts of 7.8 percent and 5 percent could feel like 13.4 percent and 8.5 percent, respectively, when squeezed into the remaining seven months.

The specified cuts include:

• $32 million from the Census Bureau's non-salary program expenses;

• $31 million from the Defense Department's acquisition workforce development fund;